Microfluidic systems are presently being explored for their potential to carry out certain processing techniques on capillary-sized continuous flows of liquid. In particular, there is currently great interest in developing microfluidic devices commonly referred to as “chemistry-on-a-chip” sensors and analyzers, which are also known as labs-on-a-chip (LoC) and micro total analysis systems (μ-TAS). The ultimate goal of research in this field is to reduce most common (bio)chemical laboratory procedures and equipment to miniaturized, automated chip-based formats, thereby enabling rapid, portable, inexpensive, and reliable (bio)chemical instrumentation. Applications include medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and basic scientific research.
On-line monitoring of continuous flows is most often accomplished by connecting the output of the continuous-flow to the input of a large analysis instrument such as a HPLC (high pressure liquid chromatography), CE (capillary electrophoresis) or MS (mass spectrometry) system, with appropriate flow control and valving for sample collection and injection. Microfluidic systems for continuous monitoring typically employ miniaturized analyte-specific biosensors where the continuous-flow stream passes over or through a series of the biosensors. Because the sensors lie in a common channel, crosstalk or contamination between sensors is often a concern. In analyses where a reagent must be mixed with the flow, only one analyte can be measured at a time unless the flow is divided into parallel streams with separate means for adding the reagent, controlling and mixing the flow and carrying out detection in each stream. Additionally, mixing in microfluidic flows is usually quite challenging. Sufficient time and distance must be provided for mixing, which places constraints on chip design and system flow rates.
In general, mixing is a fundamental process in chemical analysis and biological applications. Mixing in microfluidic devices is a critical step in realizing a μTAS (micro total analysis system) or “lab on a chip” system. In accordance with the present invention described hereinbelow, it is posited that mixing in these systems could be used for pre-processing sample dilution or for reactions between sample and reagents in particular ratios. It is further posited that the ability to mix liquids rapidly while utilizing minimum chip area would greatly improve the throughput of such systems. The improved mixing would rely on two principles: the ability to either create turbulent, nonreversible flow at such small scales or create multilaminates to enhance mixing via diffusion.
Mixers can be broadly categorized into continuous-flow and droplet-based architectures. A common limitation among all continuous-flow systems is that fluid transport is physically confined to permanently etched structures, and additional mechanisms are required to enhance mixing. The transport mechanisms used are usually pressure-driven by external pumps or electrokinetically-driven by high-voltage supplies. This in turn requires the use of valves and complex channeling, consuming valuable real estate on a chip. These restrictions prevent the continuous-flow micro-mixer from becoming a truly self-contained, reconfigurable lab-on-a-chip. Whereas conventional continuous-flow systems rely on a continuous liquid flow in a confined channel, droplet-based systems utilize discrete volumes of liquid. Both the continuous-flow and droplet-based architectures can be further classified into passive and active mixers. In passive mixers, mixing is mediated through diffusion passively without any external energy inputted for the process. Active mixing, on the other hand, takes advantage of external energy, through actuation of some sort, to create either dispersed multilaminates or turbulence. In the microscopic world, effective mixing is a technical problem because it is difficult to generate turbulent flow by mechanical actuation. The inertial forces that produce turbulence and the resulting large interfacial surface areas necessary to promote mixing are absent. Thus, mixing that depends on diffusion through limited interfacial areas is a limitation.
Recently, active mixing by acoustic wave (see Vivek et al., “Novel acoustic micromixer”, MEMS 2000 p. 668-73); ultrasound (see Yang et al., “Ultrasonic micromixer for microfluidic systems”, MEMS 2000, p. 80); and a piezoelectrically driven, valveless micropump (see Yang et al., “Micromixer incorporated with piezoelectrically driven valveless micropump”, Micro Total Analysis System '98, p. 177-180) have been proposed, and their effectiveness has been demonstrated. Mixing by electroosmotic flow has also been described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,086,243 to Paul et al. Another mixing technique has been recently presented by employing chaotic advection for mixing. See Lee et al., “Chaotic mixing in electrically and pressure driven microflows”, The 14th IEEE workshop on MEMS 2001, p. 483-485; Liu et al., “Passive Mixing in a Three-Dimensional Serpentine Microchannel”, J. of MEMS. Vol 9 (No. 2), p. 190-197 (June 2000); and Evans et al., “Planar laminar mixer”, Proc. of IEEE, The tenth annual workshop on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS 97), p. 96-101 (1997). Lee et al. focus on employing dielectrophoretic forces or pressure to generate chaotic advection, while Liu et al. rely on the geometry of a microchannel to induce the similar advection. Evans et al. constructed a planar mixing chamber on the side of which an asymmetrical source and sink generate a flow field, whereby small differences in a fluid particle's initial location leads to large differences in its final location. This causes chaotic rearrangement of fluid particles, and thus the mixing two liquids. Most recently, a technique has been proposed that uses electrohydrodynamic convection for active mixing. See Jin et al., “An active micro mixer using electrohydrodynamic (EHD) convection for microfluidic-based biochemical analysis”, Technical Digest, Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, p. 52-55).
Molecular diffusion plays an important role in small Reynolds number liquid flow. In general, diffusion speed increases with the increase of the contact surface between two liquids. The time required for molecular diffusion increases in proposition to the square of the diffusion distance. A fast diffusion mixer consisting of a simple narrowing of a mixing channel has been demonstrated by Veenstra et al., “Characterization method for a new diffusion mixer applicable in micro flow injection analysis systems”, J. Micromech. Microeng., Vol. 9, pg. 199-202 (1999). The primary approach for diffusion-based micromixing has been to increase the interfacial area and to decrease the diffusion length by interleaving two liquids. Interleaving is done by manipulating the structure's geometry. One approach is to inject one liquid into another through a micro nozzle array. See Miyake et al., “Micro mixer with fast diffusion”, Proceedings of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, p. 248-253 (1993). An alternative method is to stack two flow streams in one channel as thin layers by multiple stage splitting and recombining. See Branebjerg et al., “Fast mixing by lamination”, Proc. IEEE Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, p. 441 (1996); Krog et al., “Experiments and simulations on a micro-mixer fabricated using a planar silicon/glass technology”, MEMS, p. 177-182 (1998); Schwesinger et al., “A modular microfluidic system with an integrated micromixer”, J. Micromech. Microeng., Vol 6, pg. 99-102 (1996); and Schwesinger et al., “A static micromixer built up in silicon”, Proceedings of the SPIE, The International Society for Optical Engineering, Micromachined Devices and Components, Vol. 2642, p. 150-155. The characterizations of this type of mixer are provided by Koch et al., “Two simple micromixers based on silicon”, J. Micromech. Microeng., Vol 8, p. 123-126 (1998); Koch et al., “Micromachined chemical reaction system”, Sensors and Actuators, Physical (74), p. 207-210; and Koch et al., “Improved characterization technique for micromixer”, J. Micromech. Microeng, Vol 9, p. 156-158 (1999). A variation of the lamination technique is achieved similarly by fractionation, re-arrangement, and subsequent reunification of liquids in sinusoidally shaped fluid channels (see Kamper et al., “Microfluidic components for biological and chemical microreactors”, MEMS 1997, p. 338); in alternative channels of two counter current liquids (see http://www.imm-mainz.de/Lnews/Lnews_4/mire.html); or in a 3D pipe with a series of stationary rigid elements forming intersecting channels inside (see Bertsch et al., “3D micromixers-downscaling large scale industrial static mixers”, MEMS 2001 14th International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, p. 507-510). One disadvantage of purely diffusion-based static mixing is the requirement of a complex 3D structure in order to provide out-of-plane fluid flow. Another disadvantage is the low Reynolds number characterizing the flow, which results in a long mixing time.
A problem for active mixers is that energy absorption during the mixing process makes them inapplicable to temperature-sensitive fluids. Moreover, some active mixers rely on the charged or polarizable fluid particles to generate convection and local turbulence. Thus, liquids with low conductivity could not be properly mixed. When the perturbation force comes from a mechanical micropump, however, the presence of the valveless micropump makes the control of flow ratios of solutions for mixing quite complex.
In continuous flow systems, the control of the mixing ratio is always a technical problem. By varying the sample and reagent flow rates, the mixing ratio can be obtained with proper control of the pressure at the reagent and sample ports. However, the dependence of pressure on the properties of the fluid and the geometry of the mixing chamber/channels makes the control very complicated. When inlets are controlled by a micropump, the nonlinear relationship between the operating frequency and flow rate make it a nontrivial task to change the flow rate freely. The discontinuous mixing of two liquids by integration of a mixer and an electrically actuated flapper valve has been demonstrated by Voldman et al., “An Integrated Liquid Mixer/Valve”, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems”, Vol. 9, No. 3 (September 2000). The design required a sophisticated pressure-flow calibration to get a range of mixing ratios.
Droplet-based mixers have been explored by Hosokawa et al., “Droplet based nano/picoliter mixer using hydrophobic microcapillary vent”, MEMS '99, p. 388; Hosokawa et al., “Handling of Picoliter Liquid Samples in a Poly(dimethylsiloxane)-Based Microfluidic Device”, Anal. Chem 1999. Vol. 71, p. 4781-4785; Washizu et al., Electrostatic actuation of liquid droplets for micro-reactor applications, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 34 (No. 4), p. 732-737 (1998); Burns et al., “An Integrated Nanoliter DNA Analysis Device”, Science, Vol. 282 (No. 5388), p. 484 (Oct. 16, 1998); Pollack et al., “Electrowetting-based actuation of liquid droplets for microfluidic applications”, Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 77, p. 1725 (September 2000); Pamula et al., “Microfluidic electrowetting-based droplet mixing”, MEMS Conference, 2001, 8-10; Fowler et al., “Enhancement of Mixing by Droplet-based Microfluidics”, IEEE MEMS Proceedings, 2002, 97-100; Pollack, “Electrowetting-based microactuation of droplets for digital microfluidics”, Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University; and Wu, “Design and Fabrication of an Input Buffer for a Unit Flow Microfluidic System”, Master thesis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University.
It is believed that droplet-based mixers can be designed and constructed to provide a number of advantages over continuous-flow-based microfluidic devices. Discrete flow can eliminate the limitation on flow rate imposed by continuous microfluidic devices. The design of droplet-based mixing devices can be based on a planar structure that can be fabricated at low cost. Actuation mechanisms based on pneumatic drive, electrostatic force, or electrowetting do not require heaters, and thus have a minimum effect on (bio) chemistry. By providing a proper droplet generation technique, droplet-based mixers can provide better control of liquid volume. Finally, droplet-based mixers can enable droplet operations such as shuttling or shaking to generate internal recirculation within the droplet, thereby increasing mixing efficiency in the diffusion-dominated scale.
In view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide novel droplet-manipulative techniques to address the problems associated with previous analytical and mixing techniques that required continuous flows. In particular, the present invention as described and claimed hereinbelow developed in part from the realization that an alternative and better solution to the continuous flow architecture would be to design a system where the channels and mixing chambers are not permanently etched, but rather are virtual and can be configured and reconfigured on the fly. The present invention enables such a system by providing means for discretizing fluids into droplets and means for independently controlling individual droplets, allowing each droplet to act as a virtual mixing or reaction chamber.